Day 053 - 22 Nov 94 - Page 03

     
     1        milkshakes, etc., are a useful and nutritious part of any
     2        diet.
     3
     4        "What they don't make clear is that a diet high in fat,
     5        sugar, animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre,
     6        vitamins and minerals - which describes an average
     7        McDonald's meal - is linked with cancers of the breast and
     8        bowel, and heart disease.  This is accepted medical fact,
     9        not a cranky theory.  Every year in Britain, heart disease
    10        alone causes about 180,000 deaths."
    11
    12        We contend that the meaning of that is clear, which is that
    13        (a) a diet high in fat, sugar, animal products and sodium,
    14        and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals is linked with
    15        cancers of the breast and bowel and heart disease -- and
    16        I will explain later about links in more detail; (b) that
    17        this is the considered opinion not of a marginal group but
    18        rather of many respected and authoritative bodies in the
    19        medical/scientific community; (c) that an average
    20        McDonald's meal fits the description of being high in fat,
         sugar, animal products and sodium and low in fibre,
    22        vitamins and minerals; (d) that it is, therefore,
    23        misleading for the Plaintiffs to claim in their Nutrition
    24        Guides and elsewhere that its food, as set out in the
    25        leaflet which refers mass-produced hamburgers, chips, colas
    26        and milkshakes, is a useful and nutritious part of any
    27        diet.
    28
    29        Up until fairly recently, the meaning of the word "link"
    30        has not really been questioned.  Both sides have used
    31        "link" or its equivalent, as in relationship and
    32        association, in their pleadings, and neither side asked for
    33        clarification of what "link" meant.  It was only after the
    34        Plaintiffs' witnesses conceded under cross-examination that
    35        it was widely accepted that there was a link between diet
    36        and cancer that the Plaintiffs sought to claim that it
    37        meant something different in the context of the fact sheet.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  When I say "yes", I may or may not be
    40        agreeing; it is just that I have taken on board what you
         are saying.
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:  Yes.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Carry on.  I would like you to help me in
    46        relation to that at some stage in your submissions because,
    47        for instance, if one looked at Dr. Barnard's statement
    48        (which, I think, is his first statement which is dated
    49        23rd July) he uses the word "link" on a number of
    50        occasions, but it might be thought, in the light of how he 
    51        starts the statement, that he can only be using "linked" as 
    52        meaning "causally linked". 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:   I do not have his statement.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have mentioned it now.  If you are still on
    57        your submissions at the midday break, you can look it up
    58        then; if you are not, we will have a pause while you have
    59        another look at it.
    60